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GERMANY,
FORGOTTEN HOME
SHE was still in school in Germany, in uniform and ponytail,
when Dev Anand, with his famous persuasive skills, coaxed
her into giving acting in the movies a try. She did it for
the lark, because acting wasn’t even remotely on her
mind back then - she’d much rather have studied law,
or even given a shot at becoming an international model if
she’d been left to her own devices. But look where she’s
gotten now.
MINK has had as many as five releases to her name since she
donned greasepaint for the maiden shot in Dev’s Gangster.
That first film went almost unnoticed at the turnstiles, but
Mink did find a few enthusiastic backers, with offers coming
her way aplenty. Unfortunately, Saat Rang Ke Sapne, Yam Raj,
Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rahte Hain and Badal, also came and went
without much fanfare. And Mink was left almost high and dry.
So much so that she had to settle for a guest role even in
a Tamil film, the Prashant starrer, Piriyada Varam Vendum.
There’s light at tunnel’s end for the vivacious
Mink, though. She’s been lapped up for a big role in
a Telugu biggie, opposite the redoubtable Venkatesh. She plays
a cute little dumb girl, who keeps bumping and falling all
the time, until, predictably, she bumps into our man Venkatesh.
The language, she admits has been a bit of a cultural shock:
“Learning my lines is a perennial problem, especially
since I happen to be a kattar Punjaban,” she twinkles.
And the prospect is getting brighter by the day for her in
Mumbai, too - where she has four movies in various stages
of production, including Aziz Sejawal’s Chalo Ishq Ladayein
with Govinda, and Border Hindustan Ka with Rajat Bedi and
Faisal Khan.
“Talent can’t be hidden too long, and that’s
the hope that keeps me going,” she says, wistfully.
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NOW, TO TACKLE THE UNDERWORLD
YES, MOHAN LAL’s all set to make his debut in Hindi
films. He’s been signed by Ram Gopal Varma for his second
movie, after Satya, on Mumbai’s underbelly — this
one’s titled Company. Keeping Lal company in the lead
will be Ajay Devgan, who has a key role, too. And guess what
Lal’s playing? A honest, tough-as-nails cop.
Lal, who’s had a string of offers coming his way from
Mumbai’s filmmakers over the years, has flatly turned
down all of them. Not this one, though — for he’s
playing a fellow Malayalee, Mumbai’s outgoing joint commissioner
of police, D Sivanandan. “The role’s inspired by
the ace cop, and I’m only glad to be playing an upright
and principled man,” says Lal. That isn’t the only
attraction either. For Lal, the perfectionist, needn’t
worry about his accent here, since he happens to be playing
a Malayalee.
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AS CRITICS RHAPSODIZE...
AFTER 24 years as an actor, OM PURI may be yet to get his
just desserts in Hindi films. But elsewhere, he’s had
critics eating out of his palm, as it were, especially in
the wake of his stellar turns in recent pics like My Son The
Fanatic and East is East.
Rolling Stone, for instance, described his performance in
My Son the Fanatic as “terrific,” a role that had
critic Armond White rhapsodizing thus, “For me, easily
the best performance of 1999 was Om Puri’s in My Son
the Fanatic, hands down!”
Michael Sragow, another leading movie critic, insisted, in
an article titled, “Is Om Puri our greatest living actor?,”
that Puri’s was a talent that “equals or surpasses
that of Morgan Freeman or Al Pacino.”
And these aren’t all. Puri’s performance as George
Khan in East is East, had Terence Rafferty of the New York
Times waxing eloquent, “It was unforgettable, the kind
of performance that should stop traffic.” Now, here’s
columnist Mike Clark on Puri’s portrayal of Khan, “the
actor’s genius to make the character a tyrant, but not
quite an ogre when combating his grownup kids has been a factor
in the film’s success.”
Now Puri’s soon to essay a crucial role in another Hollywood
coproduction, the film in which Abhishek Bachchan plays the
revolutionary Chandrashekhar Azad. Clearly, after sensitive
and powerpacked performances in other international productions
like Sam and Me, Jewel in the Crown, Gandhi, Wolf, City of
Joy and The Ghost and Darkness, Puri’s on a roll.
Great actors, like prophets, are without honour in their own
countries, wot say?
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AWAITING D-DAY
AAMIR KHAN’s just about beginning to breathe easy again.
The post production for his movie, Lagaan, is almost done,
and it should hit theatres in June.
Yes, he is distributing the film, himself, but contrary to
rumours, he isn’t about to open a permanent distribution
wing. Not that he is any stranger to distributing films, having
done so first in partnership with the Moranis and Raj Kumar
Santoshi for Damini, and then alone, for brother Faisal’s
debut effort, Madhosh. But given a choice, there are other
things he’d much rather be doing.
Lagaan, as we’d hinted in these very columns, was shot
almost entirely in Bhuj, that was later razed to the ground
by the killer quake of January 26. Aamir and his unit had
developed a strong emotional bonding with the people of Bhuj.
So, too, had Aamir’s family, for wife Rina, son Junaid
and daughter Ira also joined him in Bhuj for much of the year
it took him to shoot the film. In fact, almost half the town
even readily donned greasepaint for some scenes in the film,
though they hadn’t any experience facing the camera before.
Aamir admits the film wouldn’t have been made, but for
all the help he got from the people of Bhuj. That’s why
Aamir and his unit have adopted the village near Bhuj where
they shot for the film. “It will be very difficult to
bring the village back to normalcy, considering the extent
of the devastation. But I shall do everything I can to bring
a smile back on the lips of the survivors,” says Aamir.
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TOO LATE FOR A CHANGE OF NAME
KADER KHAN’s a harried man these days. Guess why? Well,
no matter which film he’s working in, there invariably
seems to be at least one other Kader on the unit, usually
the spot boy or light man, And much to the irritation of the
more famous Kader, the rest of the unit seems to keep yelling
“Kader bhai on purpose.
There’s little he can do about it though. “It’s
too late for either of us to change our name,” smiles
Kader Khan. “So I guess we might as well learn to live
with it.”
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SNIP AND AFTER
LIKE it or lump it: you haven’t seen the last of SOPHIYA
HAQUE, yet. After that wacky and sensual turn in Sunhil Sippy’s
oddball of a movie, Snip, that crashed without a whimper at
the box-office, you’d expect her to be lounging about
at home, awaiting her next break. But Haque’s already
up and about.
She’s set to team up with hero-come-lately, Lucky Ali
in a forthcoming movie. No, it isn’t anywhere close to
the lead role, but Haque’s every bit as excited about
it, all the same. She plays one of three women in lucky Lucky’s
life, a singer he shares all but a brief relationship with,
before both move on in life. Her role is crucial in that she
is largely instrumental in leading Lucky to where he eventually
ends up in the film. The former Channel V VJ is also determined
to try her luck in Hindi films, even if that means having
to get rid of her all-too-obvious accent.
Meanwhile, there’s always the “item number”
in the odd Hindi movie, as in Aks, to keep her busy. “I’ve
always wanted to do those wonderful Helen numbers, and I’m
sure I’ll have great fun doing them,” she says.
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A TRIBUTE TO IS MAT
SO NASEERUDDIN SHAH’s back. After a five-month stay in
France, wowing Parisian theatre-buffs with an adaptation of
Hamlet, Naseer’s back at the grind in Mumbai. First on
his agenda is Ismat Apa Ke Naam, an enactment of three short
stories by Ismat Chugtai, he will direct for the Motley group,
featuring wife Ratna and daughter Heeba.
Naseer insists he can readily identify with Chugtai’s
writings, for Chugtai recreates a world he feels as if he
belongs to, and a language he’s heard spoken around him.
The chaste, refined Urdu took some getting used to, especially
for Ratna and Heeba. But Naseer’s certain the language
will not be a hindrance for the audience in understanding
the stories.
Interestingly, Ismat Apa Ke Naam isn’t one story but
three. The first, Mughal Bachcha, set in the British Raj,
features Ratna, and narrates the tale of a couple who let
pride come in the way of a meaningful, lasting relationship.
The second, Gharwali, has Naseer playing two roles, that of
Mirza and Lajjoo. And the third, Chhui Muee, featuring Heeba,
describes the experience of a woman giving birth to a child
on a train.
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REINVENTING MACHO MAN
MACHO man,
SUNNY DEOL’s in for an image overhaul. In Zee’s
Gadar — Ek Prem Kahani, that’s slated for release
this month, he plays a folk singer, wielding not a sword or
a gun as we’re used to seeing him with, but a sarangi.
For director Anil Sharma, he of Hukumat and Elaan-E-Jung fame,
working with Sunny has been a dream come true. Sunny, he tells
us, has been a major revelation in an offbeat role, and could
well be in line for his third national award.
But the surprise package of the film, says Sharma, isn’t
Sunny, but his leading lady, Ameesha Patel. Ameesha was signed
for the role long before she set the silver screens on fire
along with Hrithik Roshan in Kaho Na... Pyaar Hai. So the
success of the latter wasn’t instrumental in Sharma’s
signing her on for Gadar. Sharma says the film is a love story
set against the backdrop of the trauma of the Partition.
Come to think of it, it’s long since we had a period
movie coming up trumps at the turnstiles. Can Gadar manage
to set the cash registers ringing? Well, we’ll soon find
out.
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THE PRICE OF STA RDOM
NAGHMA may be making the news, with rumours of her affair
with India skipper Saurav Ganguly doing the rounds, but little
sister JYOTIKA’s already well on course to becoming a
sought-after actress in Tamil films. Jyotika, it seems, is
beginning to discover the price of stardom, too.
One night, last week, she had a bunch of unruly drunken men
storming into her home in Mumbai, which she shares with Naghma.
One of the men described himself as Mani Ratnam?s manager,
while another insisted on shaking hands with her. When she
refused, he promptly began to abuse her. Fortunately, however,
she and her friends soon managed to evict the unruly intruders.
Now, try getting Jyotika to open the door for you, even if
you happen to be Mani Ratnam, himself!
Shaju George Alex
shaju—alex@hotmail.com
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